Running on Empty

The national bestseller, described by Tom Brokaw as the “wake-up call we cannot ignore,” with a new preface by the author

Acclaimed by all sides of the political spectrum, Peter Peterson's Running on Empty not only traces the deterioration of America’s finances but offers solutions. This national bestseller is required reading for everyone concerned with America’s long-term economic survival. In clear and concise prose, Peterson offers America not only a vision but the practical steps by which to ensure our children’s economic future. Running on Empty is not only a warning, it is also a manifesto calling for the next administration to finally confront a deep and disturbing problem that politicians of all parties have insisted on ignoring for too long.

"Sobering, urgent, and evenhanded." --Bryce Christensen, Booklist

"With precision and punch, Mr. Peterson...blames both parties for conniving against fiscal common sense, he puts the present administration in a class of its own....Mr. Peterson writes, 'This administration and the Republican Congress have presided over the biggest, most reckless deterioration of American’s finances in history.' Unfortunately, fixing the federal budget will require more than just cleaning up after the Bush administration, Mr. Peterson warns." --Christopher Caldwell, The New York Times

"Unusually clear and accessible, logically consistent, and highly convincing...It's a rare pleasure to see both political parties chastised equally." --Howard Marks, Los Angeles Times

"Lucid, powerful, and alarming...[By] the next presidential election (in 2008), the dire fiscal future that Peterson eloquently describes...will already have arrived." --Michael Mandelbaum, Newsday

"Unlike most analytic and policy-prescriptive books [Running on Empty] is lively and plainly written....[Peterson] is a certified establishmentarian. But he is also a Nebraska straight talker who calls ’em as he sees ’em....Persuasive...his 'Repent, for the end is near' warning is entirely appropriate." --Ted Van Dyk, The Washington Post

"Running on Empty far exceeds the sum of its statistics and predictions. For Peterson's book poses a central moral question: How much should America spend on the ‘past’--benefits for retirees—at the expense of the ‘future’—a growing economy for unborn generations?" --The New York Post

Peter G. Peterson is the author of Gray Dawn: How the Coming Age Wave Will Transform America--and the World. He is chairman of The Blackstone Group and chairman
of The Council on Foreign Relations.